29
MAY 29
Erykah Badu
DAR Constitution Hall, $56-$66
Erykah Badu made up for a
two-year gap between her last two albums with a controversial video for the sublime song “Win- dow Seat” that sparked debate on the artistic merit of public nudity and the groupthink men- tality. Always marching to her own internal metronome, Badu should never be counted out — not only to surprise but also to delight. Where “New Amerykah Part One” collected heavy themes, heavier beats and her trademark blues, “New Amery- kah Part Two” is a return to af- fairs of the heart and jazzy, de- ceptively slick arrangements that also soothe. Since her 1997 debut, “Baduizm,” Badu’s oeuvre defined neo-soul and is an evolv-
ing snapshot of an artist with one foot in a b-girl stance and one hand adjusting a Billie Holi- day-style flower in her hair.
JUNE 13
Drake
9:30 club, $45
What to make of Drake, the former teen actor from “Degras- si: The Next Generation” who has dominated the popular rap landscape for two years without putting out an album? If you’re one of his hordes of young fanat- ics, you know every syllable of his three mixtapes and thrill at verses he drops on posse cuts with Lil Wayne’s Young Money crew. You have been following his hyper-drive career since his first MySpace postings in 2006, and you probably downloaded a “Best I Ever Had” ringtone. But
MATT BARNES PHOTOGRAPHY
Rapper Drake, one of hip-hop’s rising stars, will appear at the 9:30 club June 13.
if you’re older than Gen-Y, you might know nothing about this Canadian kid with the inescap- able radio hits who is mentioned in the same breath as Jay-Z. Drake is at the epicenter of the new rap world, one in which Internet leaks and mixtapes have replaced the machinery of label-generated stardom. For now, he’s content to spend that capital and wordplay ability on pop ditties and “swagger” an- thems, but his official debut al- bum later this year should give a better idea of where this young star is headed.
JULY 15
Bell Biv DeVoe
Birchmere, $45
SAMIR HUSSEIN/GETTY IMAGES
Rihanna has had several hits off her recent album, “Rated R.” She performs at Jiffy Lube Live on Aug. 20.
6
New Jack Swing has officially grown up and hit the retro tour circuit. This energetic, infec- tious strain of R&B ruled dance floors and airwaves in the late ’80s and early ’90s before being stuffed into the closet of memo- ries. Now, 20 years later, it’s get- ting proper respect, and few songs capture that era better than Bell Biv DeVoe’s monster 1990 hit “Poison.” A spinoff of ’80s boy band New Edition, BBD carved out a strong niche for it- self by embracing the hip-hop aesthetic of the era. Ricky Bell stepped out of Ralph Tresvant’s shadow and into the lead vocal- ist slot. Ronnie DeVoe’s and Mi- chael Bivins’s raps and the trio’s precision dance moves anchored
the group in street style. Now their original fans have the dis- posable income to pay tribute to the heroes of their youth while their music is being reborn as old-school hits for partying mil- lennials.
AUG. 5
Leela James
Black Cat, $22-$25
When the diminutive Leela
James takes the microphone, the husky, deep and powerful voice that comes out can be surpris- ing, revealing equal amounts of gospel, brown liquor, heartache and inner strength. James’s tim- bre is more than a little similar to Mavis Staples’s, whose Staple Singers classic “Let’s Do It Again” was covered by James on her 2009 album of the same name. James is an artist who looks backward to move for- ward, and in her case it’s a wel- come reminder of the enduring power of true soul music.
AUG. 20
Rihanna
Jiffy Lube Live, $30.75-$105.75
The average pop star’s shelf life dwindles ever more rapidly as the public’s appetite for dis- posable music and lurid person- al details increases. Considering this state of affairs and the tu- multuous year Rihanna had in 2009, maybe we shouldn’t ex- pect much more from her. But
despite it all, she’s riding a wave, working hits from her fourth al- bum, “Rated R.” At 22, she can rely on her sex appeal and pop craft to thrill arenas before per- haps employing more of the strategies used by Janet Jackson and Madonna, two entertainers and hit machines whom Rihan- na cites as major influences.
AUG. 29
Rock the Bells
Merriweather Post Pavilion, ticket prices to be announced
Since 2004, Rock the Bells has successfully built a brand as the Lollapalooza of hip-hop. It has become a required summer-con- cert staple for devotees of beats and rhymes and one of a few events, if not the major one, to bridge the gap between the re- vered veterans and new under- ground sensations. It also brings more substantive acts together on a scale that’s usually the do- main of pop artists. This year, the tour will be borrowing an- other trick from the rock-con- cert playbook that should fur- ther energize hip-hop fans. Slick Rick, Rakim, KRS-One and Wu Tang Clan will perform their landmark albums in their en- tirety from start to finish. The undercard features a wealth of hot indie talents, including Brother Ali, Immortal Tech- nique and buzzed-about new- comer Wiz Khalifa.
—Rhome Anderson
For complete listings of summer concerts around the area, many of which are free, go to
goingoutguide.com/music.
THE WASHINGTON POST • FRIDAY, MAY 28, 2010
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